Deputy 26ers,

Well, here we are, three months later, looking at our final Deputy 26 contest. We’ve had nine great contests so far with all of you doing a great job. We’ve had our ups and downs but those that have stayed on and continued submitting have helped build our community from 35 at Comic-Con last July to almost 55,000 today.

The Deputy 26 challenge was always designed to be a fun, engaging, interesting challenge that would help get the word out about this book that you all love so much. We wanted you guys to create teams that had their own identity, their own members, and then throw contests at you, all in good fun.

As a reminder, the winner and a +1 of their choosing will be flown out to Los Angeles during the shooting of the cyber-bridges for Book 2. We will provide coach flights from one airport (thus, if your plus one is flying from another place, they’ll have to pay the difference), a hotel room and make every effort to visually put you in the cyber-bridges.*

Now, the final Deputy 26 challenge:

We’ve provided you guys with 13 Tarot cards in our Final Deputy Challenge Album. Click the link to view and download the images. These cards will be heavily featured in the narrative for Book 2.

I want you guys to take five cards of your choosing and turn them into a storyline with Steve Dark chasing a killer with a proficiency in Tarot. The Tarot cards can factor into the story any way you choose. This story line does NOT have to be Black Sqweegel centric.

You must tell this story by providing the card and writing a paragraph (no more than 5-7 sentences) for each card.

I will personally read all the submissions. Whoever creates the best, most engaging storyline in my opinion will determine the Top 7 winners.

Since this is our last contest, I would encourage ALL of the Deputies to participate. Any negativity or bashing of the winners will result in immediate termination from the site. This is it, guys. Let’s end this competition with everyone having a really positive experience.

When you’ve completed your story, post the cards and paragraph in a blog on your profile and flag it as “cool”.  We want to make sure that everyone’s submission is counted, so if you’re having trouble posting, please let Site Admin Jason know.

The deadline for this contest is Friday, March 5, 2010 at 11:59 PM EST.

Now, I’ve always encouraged, without hesitation, members of the site to submit their own ideas for the book series and said that I would take those into consideration. There is a possibility that what you guys submit could resemble what we’re working on for Book 2. As such, I’m required to include the following disclaimer:

Be advised that any content, feedback, comments, ideas, suggestions and/or materials (collectively, the “Materials”) posted or uploaded by you to this website shall be done so without the reservation of any rights or further control over the Materials or the Materials’ use by you and you specifically authorize this website and its owners, affiliates, licensees and assigns to use such Materials in whole or in part, throughout the universe, in perpetuity in any and all media now known or hereafter devised, free and clear of any and all claims for royalties, residuals, or other compensation.  By posting and/or uploading any such Materials, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agreed to the foregoing. Please see the Terms of Use for further details.

Once the final winners are determined we’ll dissolve the Deputy 26 teams and go back to being a place where individuals can discuss Level 26. However, we’ll keep all of your submissions up for the time being.

I want to thank everyone who participated from week to week. I really believe you’ve helped this site grow beyond my expectations and it’s been a lot of fun coming up with challenges for you from week to week.

Zuiker

* A walk-on roll is typically a NON-SPEAKING part, usually in the capacity as an extra. We cannot guarantee that a walk-on will appear in the final version of the cyber-bridges.